mutant catfish! 2025

Tom reply :

At the same pond I caught the grass carp in a previous post in, my dad caught this weird catfish. It wasn't spawning, but it's stomache was very bulged out and it was almost dark black. The strangest thing is, it was missing BOTH of it's eyes. There weren't even any eye sockets, just smooth, black skin that is almost formed OVER the eye. From one wisker, jutted another 5. It looked like a tree limb! Another weird thing is we tagged this fish, realesed it, and between me and my dad, we caught it six more times within an hour, and not foul hooked! The next day we came back, and caught it 6 more times again! I know you find this hard to belive, but it is very true. This fish was only about 20" long, but extremely strange. What happened to the poor little guy?

(In the pictures, you can just barely see the glare of the water on the black skin over the eyes of what is thought to be it's eyes)

EDIT: Once I get pictures developed of it's eyes and how dark it is, I'll post them.

Stickling reply :

thats unbeleiveably crazy ???

coldsteel reply :

Creepish...

Big_Bass_Rich reply :

Well I hope you aren't eating fish out of that pond!

Tom reply :

Haha no. It is all out of good fun catch and release. I've caught a few other strange fish in there, including a RED catfish, and a completely black one (with eyes). When I say completely, I mean stomache and all. No spots or even dots of any color except plain black.

Stickling reply :

live near an old powerplant?

Tom reply :

No not close lol. This is a man-made and stocked once about 2 years ago pond. Even though it was stalked once, since everything is relaesed and me and my dad and like 2 other people are the only people that fish there, it is really neat. You wouldn't belive how many cats we catch in a day even though they are rather small. Same with bass and bluegill, but the bluegill are killers.

Stickling reply :

Can you put up more pics if u catch it again? And howd you get those pics on here?

Tom reply :

Yes I will post more pics if I can get him again and clearer of how black it is and I'll also post pics of the very all over black one. I'll also try to post pics of the bass with the golf ball eye. And how you do that is, click the little photo icon on the YABBC tags toolbar where you write your message, and between the two end ] 's you paste the link of your picture.

Stickling reply :

Yea but there on my comp and doent have a web address.

coldsteel reply :

the go to a website like photobucket.com and upload them onto your own file. then they will have a web adress. ;D

Tom reply :

I like www.fastuploads.com also. You don't have to sign up for any accounts.

cgs2004 reply :

I read a backpacking article where a team went caving in a very remote part of the world. After making their way in pretty far, they stopped at a opening inside the cave that had a pool of water. One guy came back a day later with a fly rod and caught catfish after catfish. The weird thing was, because there was no light at all inside the cave, the catfish had no eyes at all and relied on their other senses to eat.

Tom reply :

Well from experience I know catfish mainly rely on scent. They don't necessarily have to see, but I just think it is weird that the fish had NO SIGNS what-so-ever of eyes that were there in the past, or even having any eyes. That is weird though...catifish on a fly rod...must be fun!

cgs2004 reply :

Not only fly fishing, but in a cave, with absolutly no light dodging stligmites hanging from the ceiling of the cave. I guess he actually saw a hatch occuring with his headlamp. So he tied on a dry fly and caught a whole bunch. You don't hear of too many catfish hitting dry flies!

chad km5qf reply :

From the pix it looks like an eater sized blue but without a clear pic of the anal fin and tail i cant say for sure.

Tom reply :

Um I've been fishing since I was 4, and know the difference between a blue and a channel. I know every type of catfish, and it is VERY easy to extinguish a blue from a channel. Also, there aren't any blues in that pond. No problem though.

chad km5qf reply :

No problem, i certainly didnt mean anything beyond i was curious as to what kind of cat it was. Unless i missed it in the post no one ever said what it was. If the coloration pattern is all screwey then the ray count in the anal fin and its shape are the defining characteristic. Also if the outer edge of the anal fin is sharp, as in its all straight and perfect as if cut with scissors, then its a blue, if the anal fin is a bit rounded then its a channel. Color is meaningless in identification of exact species when melanistic conditions are present.

MuchyMan reply :

u should make a new post for this cuz i want to see it but it wont sho up on my computer

bass109 reply :

I caught a channel catfish with a very small sucker mouth, it had all three spikes but its mouth was too small like a small sucker. It really had a body of channel catfish, with a small sucker mouth.

Redlinerobert reply :

All i see are red x's.

T-rig reply :

Quote
All i see are red x's.

Me too!

Josh VanderMeer reply :

i dont see n e pics :-?

Ballistik reply :

DID ANYONE BOTHER TO LOOK AT THE DATE OF THE POST. ITS FROM 2005.

deerhuneter02 reply :

See no pic

MuchyMan reply :

i really want to see the fish. u should make a new post and put the pictures on there then so i can see them

SouthMiamiBassMan reply :

Very intresting story. I would love see these pics but nothing is showing up on your post. Please re post the pictures of Freak fish. :-?

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